IRM EXAM REVIEW AND ANSWERS
1. Which is the correct measurement for location marked by the arrow?
a. 17.076
b. 17.8
c. 17.76
d. 17.7
2. Which is the correct measurement for location marked by the arrow?
a. 30.5
b. 34.5
c. 30.45
d. 30.046
3. The accepted value is 29.35. Which correctly describes this student’s experimental data?
Trial
Measurement
1
29.48
2
28.97
3
29.27
a. accurate but not precise
b. precise but not accurate
c. both accurate and precise
d. neither accurate nor precise
4. The accepted value is 1.43. Which correctly describes this student’s experimental data?
Trial
Measurement
1
1.29
2
1.93
3
0.88
a. accurate but not precise
b. precise but not accurate
c. both accurate and precise
d. neither accurate nor precise
5. The accepted value is 15.63. Which correctly describes this student’s experimental data?
Trial
Measurement
1
12.84
2
13.02
3
12.96
a. accurate but not precise
b. precise but not accurate
c. both accurate and precise
d. neither accurate nor precise
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IRM EXAM REVIEW AND ANSWERS
6. Three different people weigh a standard mass of 2.00 g on the same balance. Each person
obtains a reading of 7.32 g for the mass of the standard. These results imply that the
balance that was used is ____.
a. accurate
c. accurate and precise
d. neither accurate nor precise
b. precise
7. How do conceptual problems differ from numeric problems?
a. Solutions to conceptual problems involve analysis, while numeric solutions do not.
b. Logic is not usually involved in solving numeric problems.
c. A plan is necessary to solve numeric problems, but is not for conceptual problems.
d. Solutions to conceptual problems normally do not involve calculations.
8. Which term is described as the amount of matter in an object?
a. density
c. mass
b. volume
d. length
9. Which of the following measurements (of different masses) is the most accurate?
a. 3.1000 g
c. 3.122 22 g
b. 3.100 00 g
d. 3.000 000 g
10. Which group of measurements is the most precise? (Each group of measurements is for a
different object.)
a. 2 g, 3 g, 4 g
c. 2 g, 2.5 g, 3 g
b. 2.0 g, 3.0 g, 4.0 g
d. 1 g, 3 g, 5 g
11. In the measurement 0.503 L, which digit is the estimated digit?
a. 5
b. the 0 immediately to the left of the 3
c. 3
d. the 0 to the left of the decimal point
12. Which of the following mass units is the largest?
a. 1 cg
c. 1 mg
d. 1 ng
b. 1 dg
13. What is the quantity 0.0075 meters expressed in centimeters?
a. 0.075 cm
c. 7.5 cm
d. 70.5 cm
b. 0.75 cm
14. What is the quantity 7896 millimeters expressed in meters?
c. 789.6 m
a. 7.896 m
b. 78.96 m
d. 789,600 m
15. What is the quantity 987 milligrams expressed in grams?
a. 0.000 987 g
c. 9.87 g
d. 98,700 g
b. 0.987 g
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IRM EXAM REVIEW AND ANSWERS
16. Which of the following equalities is NOT correct?
a. 100 cg = 1 g
c. 1 cm3 = 1 mL
b. 1000 mm = 1 m
d. 10 kg = 1 g
17. A theory is a ____.
a. proposed explanation for an observation
b. well-tested explanation for a broad set of observations
c. summary of the results of many observations
d. procedure used to test a proposed explanation
18. When a test instrument is calibrated, does its accuracy, precision, or reliability improve?
a. precision
c. reliability
b. accuracy
d. all of the above
19. Which is the part of an experiment that serves as the point of comparison for the results?
a. hypothesis
c. constant
b. independent variable
d. control
20. One characteristic of a scientific theory is that ____.
c. it cannot be modified
a. it can never be proved
b. it can be proved
d. it summarizes a set of observations
21. Which step in the scientific method requires you to use your senses to obtain
information?
a. revising a hypothesis
c. making an observation
b. designing an experiment
d. stating a theory
22. Collaboration and communication are important in science because ____.
a. most research problems are not very complex
b. most scientists have the knowledge to solve any scientific problem
c. they increase the likelihood of a successful outcome
d. they keep scientists from having to repeat experiments
23. Which kind of graph would be best to use with these data?
M&M’s™ in a bag
Color
Orange
Brown
Yellow
Green
Percent
20
13
14
16
a. Line graph
b. Circle graph
Blue
24
c. Bar graph
d. None of the above
3
Red
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IRM EXAM REVIEW AND ANSWERS
24. Which is the correct measurement for location marked by the arrow?
a. 50.2
b. 51.8
c. 52
d. 51
25. The graph represents the sales data for a particular product. In which week were 8 units
sold?
8
7
Sales (units)
6
5
4
3
2
1
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Weeks
a. 3rd week
b. 4th week
26. What is the SI unit of mass?
a. liter
b. joule
c. 6th week
d. 9th week
c. candela
d. kilogram
Significant Figures
27. Which is the sum of these values, to the appropriate number of significant digits?
17.358 + 3.502 + 20.14 =
a. 41
c. 41.000
d. 41.0
b. 41.00
28. Which is the product of these numbers, to the appropriate number of significant digits?
56.2  9.2057 =
c. 517.36
a. 517
b. 517.4
d. 517.00
29. Which of the following measurements contains two significant figures?
a. 0.004 00 L
c. 0.000 44 L
b. 0.004 04 L
d. 0.004 40 L
30. How many significant digits are in the value 530,405,000? 6
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IRM EXAM REVIEW AND ANSWERS
31. How many significant digits are in the value 0.0050340? 5
32. According to rounding rules for addition, the sum of 27.1, 34.538, and 37.68 is ____.
a. 99.318
c. 99.31
d. 99
b. 99.3
33. Which value has only 4 significant digits?
c. 8450
a. 6.930
b. 0.0450
d. 0.392
34. How many significant figures are in the measurement 0.003 4 kg?
c. five
a. two
b. four
d. This cannot be determined.
35. What is the measurement 111.009 mm rounded off to four significant digits? 111.0 mm
36. How many significant figures are in the measurement 40,500 mg? 3
37. How many significant figures are in the measurement 811.40 grams? 5
38. Express the sum of 1111 km and 222 km using the correct number of significant digits.
a. 1300 km
c. 1333 km
b. 1330 km
d. 1333.0 km
39. Express the sum of 7.68 m and 5.0 m using the correct number of significant digits.
a. 12.68 m
c. 13 m
d. 10 m
b. 12.7 m
40. Express the product of 2.2 mm and 5.00 mm using the correct number of significant
digits.
a. 10 mm2
c. 11.0 mm2
d. 11.00 mm2
b. 11 mm2
41. Which of the following measurements is expressed to three significant figures?
a. 3 101
c. 3.2 101
1
b. 3.0 10
d. 3.24 101
Scientific Notation
42. The product of 2  104 cm and 4  10–12 cm, expressed in scientific notation is ___
8 x 10-8 cm2
43. The diameter of a carbon atom is 0.000 000 000 154 m. What is this number expressed in
scientific notation? 1.54 x 10-7 m
44. The expression of 5008 km in scientific notation is 5.008 x 103 km
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IRM EXAM REVIEW AND ANSWERS
45. What is the result of multiplying 2.5
46. What is the result of adding 2.5
1010 by 3.5
105 and 3.5
10-7? 8750  8.8 x 103
102? 2.5 x 105
47. What is the measurement 1042 L rounded off to two significant digits? 1000  1.0 x 103
48. Express the product of 4.0 10-2 m and 8.1 102 m using the correct number of
significant digits.
3.24 x 101 m2
Short Answer
49. Which kind of graph would be best to use with these data? line graph
Amount of Salt added 0 g
2g
5g
10 g
15 g
Boiling temperature, 99.7
101.2 102.4 106.9 108.3
°C
50. What is the difference between a qualitative measurement and quantitative measurement?
qualitative  observations; quantitative  numbers/calculations
51. A student conducts an experiment to determine the effect of adding salt on the boiling
temperature of water. The results are shown below. (Table 1)
Sample
Amount of Salt
Boiling Temperature
Sample 1
0g
100.0° C
Sample 2
2g
102.3° C
Sample 3
5g
104.8° C
Sample 4
10 g
107.5° C
a) What is the independent variable in this experiment?
amount of salt
b) What is the dependent variable in this experiment? temperature of water
c) What is a value that should remain constant for all samples in this experiment?
amount of water
d) What is the control?
water with no added salt
e) What is a reasonable hypothesis for this experiment?
As the salt content increases, the boiling temperature of water will increases.
52. Explain how accuracy and precision differ. Accuracy measures the closeness of one
value to the accepted value. Precision compares measurements of a set of data to
each other.
53. The following length measurements were taken by students using several different
measuring devices. Find the average of the measurements. Make sure that your answer
has the correct number of significant figures.
10.05 cm, 10.1 cm, 9.741 cm, 10.6 cm, 10.5 cm
average = 10.2 cm
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IRM EXAM REVIEW AND ANSWERS
54. The data for two different measurements are shown below. Which experiment was more
accurate? Explain your answer.
Sample
Measured
Accepted
distance is 94.47% accurate
value
value
mass is 93.30% accurate
Distance 54,700 m
57,900 m
Mass
61.3 g
65.7 g
55. Convert 600 mg to grams. 0.600 g
56. Express 0.05 grams in kilograms, using the correct abbreviations. 0.000 05 kg
57. Round off the measurement 0.003 095 5 m to three significant figures. 0.00310 m
58. What is the sum of 6.210 L and 3 L expressed in the correct number of significant digits?
9L
59. Perform the following operation: 3.43 cm 5.2 cm. Make sure that your answer has the
correct number of significant figures. 19 cm2
60. A car covers a distance of 112.6 km in 1.8 h. Calculate its speed in meters per second.
(1000 m = 1 km)
112.6 km 1000 m 1 h
1 min
=17.38 m/s
1.8 h
1 km
60 min
60 s
61. A football field is 300 feet long. If a paperclip is is 3.2 cm long, how many paperclips
would fit along the length of a football field? (1 inch = 2.54 cm)
300 ft
12 in 2.54 cm 1 paperclip = 2857.5 paperclips
1 ft.
1 in
3.2 cm
7